Family room details and sources

Hello there! If you haven't seen all the inspiration at this month’s before and after link up, go check it out here. So many great projects already!

I’m back today with a few more photos and details about the family room renovation I shared last week. If you are just joining us on this project the back story is that we took down a wall between my office and our family room to open up the space. My office was a small room – ten by ten – but it made a HUGE difference!

Because I had installed board and batten on the walls of my office years ago, I realized I was going to have to keep going with that around the room. It was going to be too big of a pain to take down all the boards and repair all the drywall. I had been wanting to add some kind of wall treatment in the family room anyway, so it worked out well:

I think the room strikes a nice balance – I feel like it’s a little more sophisticated than before but still warm and cozy. The board and batten really helps keep it from getting too stuffy.

I get asked about that mirror all the time – I KNOW. It’s a beauty. It was from HomeGoods a couple years ago and there’s no identification on it. I so wish I could help source it!

One thing about board and batten, or really any wall treatment – is that it’s hard to figure out what to put above it. It’s harder than a normal wall because of the height. I went back and forth with a bunch of ideas in that corner above. The mirror used to hang above the old fireplace and I really wanted to keep it in here but it looked weird above the trim. So I went half way and had to rig it up – I put an anchor in the wall (no need if you have a stud) and cut a couple blocks of wood the same thickness as the trim around the top of the batten:

I used a really long screw to anchor those into the wall, then a smaller screw to hang the mirror. So far so good! Hope that makes sense to those of you who asked about that!

The other wall is a very small gallery of the Bub’s artwork that I took from my old office:

Those are just Goodwill frames – I had a bunch of them painted white in the office. I wanted some balance with the black dresser so I sprayed those black and I love how it all turned out!

I really wanted to complete the room and not have much left on my to do list down the road. So I went ahead ripped out the old window sills and added the new trim all around on the two windows in the corner:

I shared a step-by-step tutorial on how to do this here.

It’s a subtle difference but you can see how the window sills looked before here:

Love that you can see the passage of time by the leaves on the trees. ;)

The boards never butted up to them well and I just love the look of the thicker trim at the top and bottom! Four windows down in this house…a LOT more to go. :)

I did the same trim on the doors in the room:

Love those sconces – they are from Target! I bought one for our master bedroom earlier this year then got another one thinking I would use them on the fireplace. I had to go searching for that second one – I don’t think they are in the stores anymore but I did find them online.

I had the second one ready to return and then realized they would look great on those little walls. The candles are fake ones on timers. :)

Speaking of the fireplace, it’s my pride and joy:

It was a long process to get this baby to completion. The guys who helped with the construction part of the reno helped to make my dream set up a reality. I did all the finishing work including the trim work and color, tiling the surround with the herringbone tile, planking the wall above (for $13!) and then finishing out the cabinets on the sides for storage and electronics:

Those babies are good old inexpensive kitchen cabinets you can get from most big hardware stores. We tweaked (I almost wrote twerked) them to make them to allow for air circulation for the electronics. And yes, the remotes work through the metal screens!

I got a lot of questions about the étagère in this photo:

I got that from Joss and Main earlier this year – it was one of my only purchases from there and I am really pleased with it. It’s called the Brookfield Étagère and I got it for $40 with some credit I had there – awesome!! I plan to share more about it when I’m able to finish up the wall behind it with the board and batten – still waiting on the new back door to get finished up before I can complete that part of the room. It’s technically the kitchen now anyway. ;)

The spool chair came from HomeGoods and I can’t find any brand name of any kind on that either:

I have seen others on Instagram finding the same chairs so I know there’s more out there. It is SO comfy and so beautiful – I think it’s my favorite piece of furniture in our house right now.

I forgot that I did get a couple other small pieces for this room as well – many asked about the side table and that is from World Market:

It’s their large laptop table and it’s the hardest working piece we have in here – I use it as my desk during the week. I worried that I would miss my big desk and I have to tell you, I don’t one bit! It’s actually quite nice to be able to put it “away” for the evening.

The foyer table that used to be our sofa table that is now our hall table (whew) is the Everett foyer table from World Market:

I’ve told you of my love for that store before – they have some beautiful and unique pieces and that table is another favorite in our home. Love it. I think those green lamps are asked about more than anything in our house (other than the mirror above) and they are from…just guess…HomeGoods again. ;) It’s a sickness. I found those years ago though and haven’t seen them since.

The large mirror was a DIY project I shared here. It got the same gray color as the fireplace and built ins across the room.

I did get one other item for this space that I forgot about – the $20 coffee table that I made over months back:

It underwent quite the transformation and I LOVE how it turned out. I had issues with the wax and have been meaning to sand it down and fix it – but I’ve been too busy with other stuff. So I’m pretty sure it’s just going to stay like that forever. Adds character. ;)

Whew!! I can’t tell you how good it feels to have this space completed! Again I so appreciate all your kind comments about this room. We are thrilled with it! Hope I answered any questions you had – let me know if there are any I missed.

Family room reveal!

OK. I’m done. I can’t even believe it!! The family room expansion/renovation is DONE. GoodNESS, I worked my butt off on this room! I will go into a bigger background recap later, but long story short is that we wanted to add on to the back of our house, decided against it when we got the quotes (choke) and then decided to knock down a wall instead.

That wall was the one between the family room and my office, the one with the corner fireplace and the wall to the left:

Our original expansion plans were just to move out from that window wall and make the back part of the house more of a sunroom to extend the family room. We were never going to touch that office wall because I really wanted to keep my office. Turns out I don’t even miss, not at all. Isn’t that funny? It was a BEAUTIFUL room but no one ever saw it anyway! Except you guys, ha!

When my mind started working and the thought that taking down this wall might work, I sent this “real life” shot from my phone to two realtor friends to see what they thought. This really shows you a better angle:

The area to the left is our walk way from the mud room and garage and is where we had the TV. We reconfigured the space like this years back and it did help – but I didn’t like the corner fireplace and didn’t like that the room had different focal points.

It’s funny because I look at that photo and we had a much wider space when it was like that. But now, it’s SO MUCH BETTER because the family room is bigger and the kitchen doubled in size as well.

The space is long and skinny – we didn’t get any additional width to the room at all. In fact it’s skinnier now because everything is situated towards the back of the house. But we absolutely positively love it:

From the day we took down the wall we both said – it was supposed to be like this from the start. Actually every single change we’ve made in this whole great room (moving the kitchen table, switching out the doors, all of it) we’ve said the same every time. It should have been like this all along.

Taking down that wall brought in an insane amount of natural light – we gained two windows from the office. We also added six new overhead lights to the space:

The focal point of the room is now the grand fireplace and built ins:

We had to built it into the room to accommodate the size of the gas insert – we dealt with that by building out the entire thing and adding storage for electronics and all kinds of other stuff.

I went dramatic and gray with the whole thing and I adore it:

I am debating moving the rug down so it’s centered on the fireplace. I like how the sectional sits on it now though – if I move it the sectional will sit half on and half off.

To get an idea of how this renovation opened up the space – the old wall went right down the middle of the new fireplace. Because of the angle of the old fireplace we had about two feet, then windows. There was nowhere else to put furniture but right in front of that double window.

I can’t believe that our family room used to go that far into the kitchen! It actually went almost to the right side of that étagère:

Crazy! The final frontier in this renovation is the double doors that will take the place of that window – it was supposed to happen last week but we had a hiccup. :) More on that soon! (And those drapes will be replaced with some that match the other side of the room soon. These are up for privacy now.)

There are little things we noticed right away when we started this process. First, the animals LOVE IT. They are in this space way more than before. It’s weird. Secondly, we love that there’s one focal point in the space. I used to hate TVs over fireplaces but I’m actually falling in love with the look (and I really disliked it!). There’s no competition for your attention, it’s clean and makes the space feel even bigger. Finally, our view in here is SO much better.

I love love LOVE to sit down on this sofa during the day:

Everything is oriented to the outside. Before our view from the sofa was the front door and the TV. Now’s all the light and the trees and our pretty deck and patio. I absolutely LOVE that. It’s completely changed how this room feels.

We have more seating in the room now too – the chair to the right is my new “office.” It’s a super cozy spot! The newly painted dresser and the built in to the left of the TV hold my office supplies:

We get so much light in here now it’s hard to get good shots! I’ll take that problem any day. The natural light is why I knew the space could take the darker pieces. I love how they add some drama.

I have a lot of favorite spots in this space and this is one of them. That spool chair was the only furniture purchase for this room and I ADORE it:

I looked for months for the perfect chair and found it a few weeks ago at HomeGoods. It is spectacular. :)

See? Spectacular. And incredibly comfy too!

I moved what used to be used as a sofa table to the wall where the TV was before:

Since the sectional is floating in the middle of the room the dresser I had on this wall felt too deep. This table is perfect since it’s nice and skinny.

The big mirror was a happy accident – I leaned it up there to see how it felt and it makes the room feel even brighter – when I’ve taken it down to paint behind it there’s a noticeable difference in the room:

I thought this walkway would feel tight but it’s actually perfect:

Before the walkway was right in front of the TV and again – this just feels “right.” I told you we keep saying that! It’s how it always should have been. :)

And finally, this is my view as I sit and write:

That view will look even better when the kitchen renovation starts…next year…a long time from now…cause Mama needs a break. :)

I still want to share more details and photos of the space, some before and afters and all of the sources as well – I will share those very, very soon!

For now I think I’ll join him:

If you have any questions about anything let me know and I’ll be sure to address it!

THANK YOU for coming along for the ride! I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder on a space but not sure I’ve ever been prouder of a space either. :)

Black and brass

Welcome to a new week my friends! Hope you had a lovely weekend!

Yesterday I finished up the last DIY project for the family room – I think I keep saying everything is the “last” project and then I realize I have another one. For for real – this is it. We’ve been able to rework most of what was in the room before in the new set up and I’m pretty excited about that. I’ve only made one purchase for the “new” space – a gorgeous chair I found a HomeGoods a few weeks back. I’m in lurrrve with it.

In our old set up we used a dresser as the entertainment center:

I use dressers all over our house for storage – they’re pretty and functional. Most of them are Craigslist finds – well, pretty much all of them actually. The one above is one of my favorites but it was too long for the new spot in the family room set up.

So I switched that out for one that’s been in our bedroom for years. I’ve always had a plan to paint it but I bought it because I LOVED the lines:

Most of my dressers I would never paint – even with some damage I love the warm feel of the wood. This one though, I’ve never loved. The finish was a “fake” look – it’s an odd look that I didn’t care for. It had almost a spattered finish on the wood, I’m not sure how else to describe it. Let’s just say it wasn’t a pretty wood finish. And I’ve always really disliked the hardware on it as well – it’s felt too frilly for me.

So I didn’t feel bad painting this one. I considered just sanding it down to a more natural state – I’m loving that trend lately. But the new chair that sits in front of it already has a lighter look and I knew it wouldn’t be enough contrast.

AND sanding it down would require a ton of work – taking it outside and trying to get into all the little detailed areas of the piece. I prefer sitting on my butt and painting inside. ;)

I started by wiping it down well – I’ve used tsp cleaner in the past but over the past few years I’ve realized just regular cleaning wipes work just as well. You just want to get any residue or dust off of whatever you’re painting.

I primed it with my favorite primer:

I have this tinted gray because I use it on all of our interior black doors. It’s a super thin primer and SO easy to apply. It always goes on incredibly well and dries really fast.

Because I wanted to replace the hardware I filled the holes on the top drawers (they were a different type of hardware than the rest of the drawers):

After the coat of primer I made sure to give the flat surfaces a really quick sanding:

I kind of loathe sanding but this is just a light, fast sanding to knock it down just a bit. You’ll want to do that between each coat of color too – if you don’t (I skipped it once or twice this time) your surfaces won’t be super smooth. Not a big deal but it feels better with a smoother finish.

I knew I was going to like it when it was all primed and ready for paint:

I swear sometimes painting a piece really helps the pretty details and lines shine.

I found this AWESOME brush at Lowe’s that I used for most of the painting:

It’s a square brush and I’ve never seen one like it. It’s made for painting window panels but it was perfect for getting into all the grooves in the dresser. Loved it!

I’ve said many times over the years that I believe every room should have a touch of black. It’s grounding and gives some great contrast. I used to paint ever.y.thing. black but I’ve stopped that. ;) But I knew this one would look striking in a darker color so I went for it. I used the Graphite color by Sherwin Williams that I’ve used for our interior doors.

I found hardware that matched the wide (five inch) span of the old hardware but it was a brushed nickel and kind of basic. I didn’t love it. So I held up the old hardware against the new dark color and feel head over heels with it:

Well huh! I’m not kidding when I say I really didn’t care for these handles before – and now I absolutely positively LOVE them. I gave them a good cleaning with my brass cleaner and they are looking so much better than before. (Yes I had to knock out that filler I had put in the top drawers.)

You can see all the pretty lines of the dresser here:

I am obsessed with it now. Obsessed:

It’s so beautiful, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out! 

On our doors that Graphite color looks more black but you can see it’s true color better here – a dark, dark gray:

I haven’t dressed it up yet – I just threw stuff on it for the pictures.

This dresser serves as my “office” storage. Or at least it will soon – I have some items in it but need to switch out my supplies from the dresser that used to sit in my office.

The best part – I spent $7 on a new brush and that’s all this redo cost me. WHOOT! I had the primer and paint so that’s always a bonus. I haven’t distressed it at all yet – I’ve said before that distressing stresses me. :) After all that work I hate to mess it up on purpose. So I’ll probably just let that happen on it’s own. And soon I’ll put a couple coats of satin poly on the top to protect it against scuff marks.

I am still laughing about that hardware too – I can’t believe how much I love it against the darker color. I think this may be my favorite painted piece ever and it’s the handles that put it over the top for me. Have you painted furniture? Do you have a go-to color?

I’ll be back on Wednesday with the whole space! I’m going to work hard over the next two days to get all the smaller details finished up.

Black and white and awesome all over

Hello my friends! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Whew, I literally just finished this project up this morning – I mentioned last week that I usually underestimate how long it will take to get a project done and this was one of those for sure. I’ve shown you this trim work before but it always looks so good, I can’t resist sharing it again. It gets me right there, I love it so.

And every time I replace door trim in the house I forget to share a trick or a step so this time I’m focusing more on how I take down the existing trim.

I actually started this project months ago, back when construction was still happening. I knew I wanted to replace all the door trim in the family room as a part of the renovation but I needed our handymen’s table saw to get these two doorways started:

Those two corner pieces had to be ripped down to fit. I got the side trim up and then it sat…for months. Till last week when I went on a trim/painting mission.

I decided to tackle the other two other doors in this space while I was at this – our coat closet and the basement steps. They’re more of a tiny little hallway but you can see them both from the family room so I just went for it.

There are six tools I use EVERY time I take down the existing door trim:

First up, you need a good razor to score the caulk around the current trim:

If you don’t do that the paint will peel up with the trim as you take it off. A little of this is OK because I’m always replacing it with thicker trim. But I still score every time.

Then you can use your pry bar and a hammer and start pulling the trim away from the wall:

Use the hammer to wedge it under – if your trim is hard to remove make sure to put a thin piece of wood under your pry bar so it doesn’t dent your drywall. I’ve learned that one over the years. :)

Sometimes the staples come off with the trim, sometimes they don’t. I use a flathead screwdriver to wiggle them out a bit, then a wrench or pliers to pull them out:

And finally, my latest fave – this scraper tool is the BOMB. It may even get it’s own post it rocks so very much:

You’ll usually have residual caulk on the wall and if you don’t get that off your new trim won’t go flush against the wall. I used to peel every bit off it off and then use a sander. This new tool makes super easy and quick work of getting all that off – LOVE it.

You’ll want to remove or cut down any baseboards near your doorway too – your trim will be wider so this is a must. After that you can start installing the new trim and this part goes fast, especially compared to the time it takes to remove the existing trim.

I’ve shared this process a couple times so I won’t go into detail again, but this is the model I follow, more or less:

I don’t use that thick of a “fillet” on mine – I use thinner trim called stop. It gives it a nice little detail:

After everything was up and painted (the most time consuming part for sure) I focused on adding the new base around the doors in the hallway.

When we had our hardwoods installed years back we didn’t pull up the baseboards – it was just going to take too much time and our base is really hard to remove. I usually have to end up breaking it into pieces in order to get it out. Because the thick wood was installed right up against our already wimpy baseboards they looked even wimpier after the floors were all done. :)

You can really see the difference on this corner with the old base on the left and the new on the right:

Chunky molding makes my heart SING! Wimpy molding gives me the sads. :(

After a few days of work I got it all done – four doorways completed!:

Let’s look at that before again shall we? Cause it always makes me feel accomplished:

Goodness, it feels so good to have this done! I LOVE how the crown and doorways and board and batten all look together. This builder home is looking more custom with every door:

And now the trim on the outside matches the trim on the inside of the powder room and mud room:

I took down the door to the mud room years ago to open up that space a bit. I did the same with our basement door so this is just an open doorway:

I had to match up the baseboards on this side to the walls with the board and batten, so it’s a little thicker. And I finished painting the faux chunky crown molding in this spot too:

Across that itty bitty baby hallway is the closet door – here’s a Christmas pic to give you an idea of how it looked before:

And here’s that same spot with the thicker crown and baseboards…and one more black door completed!:

I am happy to report this means ALL the doors on the main floor are now painted. And all but one in the basement is done…maybe I’ll get the upstairs done in the next few years or so. :)

To see more about painting your interior doors and the color I use go here.

Whoot!! Another BIG project knocked off my list! I’m so happy to have this part done. I’m literally finishing up small projects now (paint, decor) and I’ll be DONE with the “new” family room.

Are you a black door kind of person? I absolutely love them – I think they add some character and interest to our home. And the new molding certainly doesn’t hurt – don’t underestimate the power of new trim! It makes a huge difference!

P.S. Many of you have asked about costs for the door trim and it can range anywhere from $15 to $30 a door – depending on the pine you use. (I only use pine for this to cut down costs.) I mix the nicer, knot-free pine with some cheaper stuff for the top to bring down costs as well.